To mark the 20th anniversary of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, here are some of the key numbers that define the series.

The US series first aired on March 10 1997 before running for seven seasons and is still hailed as a pioneer in championing a strong female lead, particularly for its target demographic.

The genre-crossing programme followed high school student Buffy Summers, played by Sarah Michelle Gellar, as she tried to balance her life fighting vampires and demons with the more everyday teen troubles of heartbreak and friendships.

Buffy flipped the stereotypical female character in a horror story on its head, putting the protagonist's quest to destroy evil in her home town of Sunnydale as the main story arc.

The Joss Whedon-created series went on to influence several other shows, such as Veronica Mars, Grimm and the revived version of Doctor Who.

:: 129 awards nominations and 52 wins.

Sarah Michelle Gellar was nominated for a Golden Globe for best actress in a drama series in 2001, but lost out to Sela Ward for divorce romance series Once And Again.

Key numbers:

:: Seven series made between 1997 and 2003.

:: 144 episodes, including an unaired pilot episode - and only seven of them do not feature a vampire.

Gellar and Alyson Hannigan are the only cast members to appear in every broadcast episode.

:: 18 actors appear as the same character in both Buffy The Vampire Slayer and spin-off series Angel.

:: 18 - 50 is the range of possible visual effects shots in an average episode, according to the show's visual effects supervisor Loni Peristere.

:: 16-year-old Mercedes McNab, who played Harmony, was the only main cast member to actually be a teenager while filming, despite the series being set in a high school.

:: 43 churches in the fictional town of Sunnydale where the show is set.

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